


The Pond

by Flutterbat



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Big Brother and Little Brother, Brotherly Bonding, Family Dynamics, Modern AU, One Shot, Sibling Bonding, Siblings, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-11
Updated: 2019-04-11
Packaged: 2020-01-11 22:18:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18433235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flutterbat/pseuds/Flutterbat
Summary: Takumi finishes and takes a deep breath. While it feels good to get it off his chest, he still feels  upset. But then he added quietly. “I hate him, sometimes.”Ryoma’s lips curl into a one sided smile, but it doesn’t travel to his eyes. “Do you mean Dad or Corrin?”***Just two brothers, playing and talking by a pond in Central Shirasagi.





	The Pond

**Author's Note:**

> This is set in a modern universe; an important note is that Ikona lived, and Sumeragi left her for another woman. The Hoshido sibs have a very different relationship with their father in this 'verse.
> 
> Happy Belated Sibling Day!

One of the most popular places in Shirasagi is the central park. It’s a haven of green in an otherwise bustling metropolis, and is so large that if it were not for the massive skyscrapers in the distance, the causal observer might think they had been transported to the middle of rural Hoshido. It has trees, a petting zoo and even a small fairground, but Takumi’s favourite part is the lake in the centre. It is man made and huge - one part has been cordoned off and has been turned into a wetland home for hundreds of ducks and water fowl. Other parts of the lake are used for swimming and pleasure boating, someone even thought to design an amazing fake beach - but he is not looking or enjoying any of those things right now.

He is in fact, enjoying the company of his older brother. Takumi is sat on a bench watching him crouch down at the edge of an offshoot pond of the lake, and he’s carefully placing two large model boats in the water. Takumi looks at him thoughtfully, purses his lips and then glances at the remote controls for each boat Ryoma has left in his care. One of the controls has a large red button. _I wonder what will happen if it’s pressed._

He thinks better of it. Ryoma is oddly protective of his model ships. Better not do anything to upset him.

***

Takumi idolises his brother, and he’s thrilled to be spending some time with him, although he does his best to hide it. Ryoma has always been an over achiever, and always busy with something. He was head boy and valedictorian at Shirasagi High School for Boys, the graduated with top honours at Shirasagi University (in the highly competitive and oversubscribed Law School no less, after leaving, he scored an internship with a very prestigious estate law practice. And if that wasn’t enough, he is also a talented fencer and might be heading to the world champion ships in a few months, if he scores enough points in his qualifier. Takumi is proud of him, but if he is honest, also a tiny bit jealous.

Ryoma’s overachieving normally means he is very busy, but not today. He has put all of those things on hold, and is being Big Brother. Takumi is grateful. He has a lot on his mind, and needs the distraction.

Ryoma has finished at the pond edge, and the boats are bobbing in the water, humming - and his big brother has returned to the bench, looking unreasonably excited. He hands Takumi one of the controls - the one with the red button - “Here.”

Takumi looks down at it. “It’s a bit complicated for a toy isn’t it?”

Ryoma tries not to look hurt, and Takumi immediately regrets his comment. Perhaps Ryoma secretly isn’t busy all of the time and just pretends he is, just so he doesn’t have to spend time with him. Takumi suddenly feels a bit sad, and does his best damage control. “No, what I mean is…”

He’s stopped when Ryoma puts a hand on his shoulder and smiles. He was teasing.

Even so, his big brother must have picked up on his anxiety because he added; “It’s okay, Takumi.” He gestures a hand in the direction of the boats. “ _HNS Shinonome_ and _HNS Kisaragi_ are more than just mere toys. They are the centre pieces of a big naval re-enactment the club doing in two weeks. This is a great opportunity for me to test them out, and also spend some time with you.”

Of course. In addition to his already busy life, Ryoma is also treasurer of the Suzanoh Prefecture Boating Club. In his apartment, he has all kinds of replica models, books, movies and posters of exploding diagrams - if he’s honest, Takumi thinks it’s all wicked cool but he would never tell his brother that.

“So what have I got to do then?”

“On the bow of the ship is a magnet. The idea is the collect the metal crest that’s on the stern. Since the boats can’t open fire on each other, it’s the next best thing to show a naval battle. The winner is the team that collects the most crests.”

“Okay,” said Takumi. “So I guess these levers are for controlling the boat then?”

“Exactly,” replies Ryoma. “This one will move it forward or reverse, and this one will move it starboard or port.”

“You could have just said left or right.”

“One uses the proper naval terminology in a battle,” his older brother replied all too cheerfully. Takumi rolls his eyes, but Ryoma doesn’t notice.

“What do the buttons do?”

“This one sounds the horn… the blue one will give you a short burst of speed, but be careful, because it’s drink the battery. Don’t touch the red one yet.”

“Why, what does it do?”

Ryoma winked. “I’ll show you after I’ve gotten the crest of little _Kisaragi_.”

Takumi lets out a ‘Hah!” and pulls his controller closer. Challenge accepted, Big Brother. Challenge. Accepted. Ryoma directs him to sail the boats to the centre of the lake and then they would start their mock naval fight. Takumi’s boat, _Kisaragi_ , is the smaller of the two - a vintage destroyer class build for speed. Ryoma’s boat,  _Shinonome_ is larger boat - still a destroyer class, but as Takumi understands, it had more raw power than others in the fleet, and was nearly always a front line ship.

The boats whirred into life as the brothers sailed them the centre of the pond, and then at Ryouma’s directive they started their mock battle. It was harder than he expected to control the boats, but he learned quickly - Ryoma’s boat definitely had power, but his was fast and he needed to figure out how to use that to his advantage. He furrowed his brow as he concentrated, and for a while the brothers didn’t speak as they paid attention to the scene in front of them.

It was Ryouma that eventually broke the silence and the models jousted on the water. “Mom said you had a row with Dad again.”

Takumi slumped a little. “…Yeah.” The he went quiet.

Ryoma didn’t look at him, but opened the invitation. “Anything you want to talk about?”

“I just don’t get him!” Takumi burst out. “He just doesn’t want to listen. Living the dorms is really important to me, but he keeps going on about getting me a special apartment away from the halls so I can concentrate on my studies. It’s so dumb, and he’s not even listening to me How am I going to make friends if I don’t live in the dorms?”

“I didn’t live in the dorms.”

“You’re different,” insists Takumi. “You got all of Mom’s gifts when it comes to talking and being social, so you didn’t need too.”

“Well now that’s not true.”

“No-one will want to speak to me!”

“Takumi…”

It all came pouring out, but he didn’t mean it too. Ryoma has so many important things on his mind, he doesn’t need any more of Takumi’s insecurities, but he sits there and listens anyway. How Hinata will meet cooler people at the garage he’s starting an apprenticeship with. How his current course runs a completely different schedule to Oboro’s and how she won’t want to hang out any more once she learns how boring Eastern Philosophy is compared to Fashion Design. And…. and how Sumeragi thinks he can just skip what feels like all of Takumi’s big mile stones - archery meets, graduations, prize givings - for something their unusually dumb half-wit half-brother has gotten himself into and then just buy his way back into their affections with fancy real estate. And how Sumeragi had called _him_ selfish for not taking up the offer.

Ryoma doesn’t say anything, while Takumi vents a tirade about how every time he’s needed or wanted Sumeragi to be there, he wasn’t because his second, other family came first.

Takumi finishes and takes a deep breath. While it feels good to get it off his chest, he still feels upset. But then he added quietly. “I hate him, sometimes.”

Ryoma’s lips curl into a one sided smile, but it doesn’t travel to his eyes. “Do you mean Dad or Corrin?”

Takumi is quiet, and doesn’t answer the question. Both perhaps? He’s afraid of what he might answer. “I just… don’t understand why a participation award trumps an all time high score.” He looks at the ground, and can’t keep the sadness out of his voice. “He said he was going to come… he promised he would. And then he didn’t.”

Ryoma flicks a switch on his control pad, and _Shinonome_ whirs to a stop in the middle of the lake. He then carefully places his remote on the ground, and, without further warning, grabs Takumi in a headlock and messes his hair. Takumi is taken by surprise and shouts out - nearly dropping his remote. The surprise dispelled his gloom, and while he wriggled a bit at first, he flops into his brothers embrace. Ryoma loosens his grip and then ruffles Takumi’s hair again, more gently this time.

“You're going to tell Mom, aren't you?” Takumi asks quietly.

His brother dodges the question when he replies, “Want to see what the red button does?”

Of course Takumi wants to know what the red button does. But they were in the middle of a naval battle, and they still have to finish - and it’s as if his older brother is reading his mind.

“You have a good grasp of _Kisaragi_. I think you would have won anyway.”

Takumi feels a little cheated. “That’s not the same… why do you always quit when it looks like I’ll win?”

Ryoma lets out a soft “Heh!” and then leans across with his arm that isn’t around Takumi, and then presses the button. "That's my 'Big Brother' privilege." Takumi can only watch in horror as Kisaragi appears to start sinking.

“Pretty neat, huh?”

Takumi blinks dumbfounded, before blankly stating, “I’m telling Mom.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote this mostly for myself- I have wanted to ever since I discovered that Shinonome and Kisaragi are names of old WW2 Japanese warships.
> 
> This particular verse was inspired by a conversation with a friend, stemming from Ippei's Young Garon portrait, and now he looked like he'd be a jerk footballer if he lived in a modern AU (thanks for humouring me Dame). It kinda grew from there; for the curious on the other side Ektrina also lived to raise Marxander, and the siblings all have very different feelings towards their fathers. The world fit the concept I wanted to do very well, so here we are. 
> 
> If you read this far, I hope you liked it.


End file.
